Prince ‘Deliverance’ EP Faced With Possible Legal Delay

If you were one of the people who got really excited yesterday when it was announced that a new, six-song Prince EP of previously unreleased tracks would be released this Friday, in honor of the one year anniversary of the music icon's death, you may want to slow down the celebration.

Billboardreports that the six-song EP has been hit with a legal challenge. Prince’s estate and Paisley Park has filed a federal lawsuit against sound engineer George Ian Boxill for control of the six Deliverance tracks. The lawsuit reportedly estimates the value of the recordings at over $75,000. The six-song EP included tracks recorded between 2006-2008 and was to be released on Rogue Music Alliance (RMA), with a physical version following the digital release on June 2.

The lawsuit claims that Boxill refused to return the tracks in violation of a contract he made with Prince. Boxill reportedly has spent the past year since Prince's passing completing production and mixing the songs.

“I believe ‘Deliverance’ is a timely release with everything going on in the world today, and in light of the one-year anniversary of his passing,” Boxill said in a press release. “I hope when people hear Prince singing these songs it will bring comfort to many … Prince once told me that he would go to bed every night thinking of ways to bypass major labels and get his music directly to the public. When considering how to release this important work, we decided to go independent because that’s what Prince would have wanted.”

The new lawsuit, however, says the estate and Paisley Park also requested "any and all masters, copies and reproductions" be returned.

Hopefully, this can get resolved by Friday in time for the EP's release. In the meantime you can listen to the title track, "Deliverance" below.